Conventionally, a battery assembly formed by stacking a plurality of battery cells has been proposed as a storage battery. A battery cell includes a plate-shaped electrolyte, having a cathode active material formed on a main surface and an anode active material formed on the other main surface. The battery cells as such are arranged in series and a collector plate is placed between each of the battery cells, whereby a battery assembly is formed. In the battery assembly formed in this manner, electrode reaction takes place between the cathode active material and the anode active material in each battery cell, to discharge power.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open Nos. 2005-071784, 2004-031281 and 2002-056904 propose various types of battery assemblies and cooling structures therefor, for cooling heat generated by the electrode reaction. For instance, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-071784 proposes a battery assembly and its cooling structure, in which a cooling tab is attached to each collector plate arranged between battery cells, and by blowing cooling air to the tab, each collector plate is cooled and hence the battery assembly is cooled.
In the battery assembly mentioned above, however, a separate cooling tab is attached to each cooling plate and, therefore, the number of components increases, resulting in higher cost.